A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a flat panel display that is currently used in the widest range of applications. Applications include large-screen televisions, personal computers, factory automation equipment, office automation equipment, cellular telephones, and the like.
Recently, LCDs have greatly advanced in display quality, and have reached a level equal to that of cathode ray tube (CRT) displays in terms of contrast and color reproduction when viewed from directly in front.
With respect to viewing angle and animation characteristics (response characteristics), however, problems still remain compared to CRT displays. From the viewpoint of improvement in viewing angle characteristics of LCDs, a liquid crystal display mode based on multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) was developed. In this mode, orientation of liquid crystal molecules included in a liquid crystal layer is controlled using structures or electrode slits provided on a substrate.
More specifically, by arranging belt-shaped structures or electrode slits on surfaces of top and bottom substrates one after another, the liquid crystal orientation is divided into two directions between the structures or the electrode slits, and thereby liquid crystal domains oriented at the difference of approximately 180 degrees are formed and orientation division was achieved. The MVA mode greatly improved the viewing angle characteristics of LCDs, which were even achieved at a practically sufficient level.
In MVA-based LCDs, however, the response rate in the tones from black to gray is sometimes decreased, and improvement is required when it comes to application to television receivers or personal computers (PCs) for audio visuals.
In an MVA-based liquid crystal display apparatus, liquid crystal molecules are vertically oriented during an OFF voltage (black display), and is not equipped with a unit for inducing the liquid crystal molecules about the inclination direction through the process of rubbing an orientation film as in the twisted nematic (TN) technology or the homogeneous technology. In an MVA-based liquid crystal display apparatus, inclination information of liquid crystal molecules propagates from ribs (structures such as projections), electrode slits, or edges of pixel electrodes, and thereby liquid crystal molecules of the entire display region are operated.
Accordingly, since the voltage applied to a liquid crystal layer is small when switching is made from a high-tone display to a low-tone display, the propagation rate of inclination information of liquid crystal molecules is decreased, and the time required for response propagation of liquid crystal molecules is sometimes increased.